Enabling Nanotechnology Entrepreneurship in a French Context: Towards a Holistic Theoretical Framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to build a holistic theoretical framework of enabling factors contributing to the development of enterprise in nanotechnology-related industries, in a French context. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review methodology was adopted. The review used three gauges to identify enabling factors contributing to the development of enterprise in nanotechnology-related industries in a French context: first, it analysed the literature related to the development of nanotechnologies in a perspective of sustainability in a multidisciplinary stance (“Green view”). Second, it took a disciplinary stance by exploring academic journals in the field of entrepreneurship (“Entrepreneurship view”). Third, it studied the perspective of France (“French view”). Findings – The main finding is that in spite of different approaches and sometimes seemingly conflicting stances, the three views converge on three enabling factors: the importance of knowledge sharing across boundaries, access to university scientists and facilities, and government intervention. However, each view also has its particularities: the ”Green view” emphasizes the need for civil society inclusion, the ”Entrepreneurship view” underlines the importance of early stage capital and entrepreneurial behavior and the “French view” concentrates on the role of clusters. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides a theoretical framework and a starting point for further work on entrepreneurial nanotechnology facilitation. Its findings constitute a benchmark which may be tested in empirical cases. The focus on the French context may be seen as a limitation but also as a source of interesting comparative work focusing on other national or regional contexts. Practical implications – The paper shows that public policy is an important element in the nascent field of enterprise development for nano-based materials. It outlines how different contexts create different barriers to entrepreneurship, and it proposes recommendations to overcome some of these barriers. Originality/value – In this paper, findings result from an exploration of the nanotechnology literature that focuses solely on nanotechnology data sets and not on mixed data sets. The use of three different gauges leads to the construction of a holistic theoretical framework that includes enabling factors as well as the types of barriers that entrepreneurs have to overcome to succeed.